Lawsuit alleges 30 minutes daily of unpaid gear prep and improper bonus calculations in overtime pay
A silica mining company is accused of requiring workers to suit up in safety gear off the clock and shortchanging overtime pay by leaving bonuses out of wage calculations.
Patric Farmer has taken U.S. Silica Company to federal court in Houston, claiming the industrial minerals producer systematically underpaid him and other hourly workers through policies that skirted wage and hour requirements.
The November 12 filing in the Southern District of Texas alleges two distinct pay problems that HR professionals frequently grapple with: what counts as compensable work time, and how to properly calculate overtime rates when bonuses enter the picture.
Farmer worked as a Bagger and Operator at U.S. Silica's South Carolina facility from approximately June 2024 through March 2025, earning approximately $21.85 an hour. His job involved operating the spout to load rail cars and tankers with sand and other materials and bagging different types of sand.
But before clocking in each day, Farmer says he and his coworkers had to spend around 30 minutes preparing and putting on an extensive array of safety equipment: hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, ear protection, steel-toed boots, respirators, safety vests, and harnesses. All of this happened on company premises, unpaid.
The suit argues this gear was not optional. Federal regulations mandate much of it, and U.S. Silica maintains data sheets identifying equipment employees must use to safely work with various substances and products. Workers could not safely and efficiently perform their jobs in accordance with the company's policies, procedures, and expectations without this gear, according to the filing.
Despite this, the company allegedly maintained a policy requiring employees to don this gear off the clock. For workers putting in 12-hour shifts three or four days a week, that unpaid half-hour added up.
The second issue involves how U.S. Silica calculated overtime. Farmer and others typically worked between 36 and 48 hours weekly. When they crossed the 40-hour threshold, they received overtime pay, but the suit claims those calculations left out non-discretionary production bonuses the company paid.
Under federal wage law, non-discretionary bonuses must be factored into an employee's regular rate before multiplying by 1.5 to determine overtime pay. Excluding them means workers get less than they are owed for those extra hours.
The filing characterizes these practices as knowing violations. U.S. Silica understood its obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, knew employees worked more than 40 hours in at least one workweek during the relevant period, controlled the timekeeping procedures, and chose to implement policies that the suit claims violated wage requirements.
Farmer is seeking to represent all hourly U.S. Silica employees who worked during the past three years through final resolution of the case, as well as a separate group of workers in South Carolina under state wage law. No determination has been made on these allegations.
U.S. Silica describes itself as a global industrial minerals and logistics leader with core competencies in mining, processing, logistics and material science that enable the company to produce and cost effectively deliver over 800 diversified products to customers. The company is headquartered in Katy, Texas.
The case touches on two areas where employers often stumble: pre-shift activities that blur the line between personal preparation and work, and bonus structures that complicate overtime math. Both require careful policy design and consistent implementation to stay compliant.
